
Rnnk ■ 11 7 O 5" 



THE CULTIVATION 



ARTS AND SCIENCES, 






MAINTAINED TO BE FAVOURABLE TO 



VIRTUE AND HAPPINESS: 



TO WHICH IS ADDED. 



A TRANSLATION 



OF THE CELEBRATED 



PRIZE ESSAY 

OF 

JEaxn JACQUES ROUSSEAU, 

WHEREIN HE ADVANCES AN OPPOSITE SENTIM! 




By HE^ItY SMITHERS. 

j 

Author of <c Observations on the Netherlands 3 " 
"• Affection?' a Poem, etc. etc. 



■ BRUSS1 
V. U I N T E D AT THE B I 

Sect. ~. g to, Rue FerU 



IQl' 




1*ty 



<%,< 



To 
Their Royjl jnd Imperial Majesties : 
The EMPEROR of AUSTRIA, 
The KING of FRANCE, 
The PRINCE REGENT of ENGLAND, 
The KING of PRUSSIA, 
The EMPEROR of all the RUSSIA S, 
The following Essay 

is most repectfully Dedicated 
by 
THE AUTHOR. 



HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCES! 

To whom can I with so much propriety dedicate an 
Essay in favour of the Arts and Sciences, as to the Allied 
Sovereigns of Europe, who have publicly recognized and 
announced, " That their duties towards God and towards 
the people Over whom they reign, lay them under obliga- 
tions to give to the world, as far as in them lies, examples 
of justice, of concord, and of moderation. Happy to be en- 



iV DEDICATION. 

ahhd {o foster the arts of pet7.ce, to increase the prosperity 
of their kingdoms, and to revive the sentiments of religion 
and of morals, which the late unhappy events have too 
much enfeebled." 

These declarations shed brighter rays around regal and 
impend power than radiate from the splendid crowns they 
wear. The harp of sacred prophecy hath sounded long and 
loud. It announces that halcyon days are approaching, 
when the cultivation of the arts of peace shall succeed to 
that thirst of dominion, that passion for war which has so 
long desolated the human race. 

The passing events are the heralds of those days : that 
the most powerful monarchs and laurelled conquerors of 
Europe, assembled in Congress, should thus publicly re- 
nounce every purpose of ambition, and engage to direct 
all their efforts to an amelioration of the condition of man- 
kind, by the promotion of morality and religion, offers 
such a striking contrast to what; the pages of history have 
hitherto exhibited, as cannot but be considered encouraging 
signs of the times, THE EVENTFUL TIMES IN 
WHICH WE LIVE. 

Thus committed in the face of Europe and the world, 
you. have surrounded yourselves with an awful responsi- 
bility, " if offences come, woe be to them by whom they 
shall come." 

Pursuing stedfastly the principles to which you are thus 
pledged, the sceptic of peace and of righteous judgment: 
will prosper in your hands, for Omnipotence hath declared, 
it; the affections of your subjects will encircle you as an 
adamantine fortress, and when Death shall summons you 
to quit your earthly crowns, diadems of Celestial Glory will 

ait von in a he !er world. 



OBSERVATIONS 



PRIZE ESSAY 



JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU- 



Amongst the numerous paradoxes which the human* 
mind has presented, we behold the enlightened Jean 
Jacques Rousseau, in his celebrated Prize Essay, attempt- 
ing to depreciate the benefits derived from the Arts and 
Sciences ; he exhibits a remarkable instance of the power 
of eloquence; to an elegant combination of words and 
ideas, or a commixture of raluable maxims, with a false 
and dangerous sophistry, his success may have been prin- 
cipally attributed ; to contend with him, I am well aware, 
is to attack a giant in his strong hold, but truth is mighty 
~:inst prevail. 



i maintain that the cultivation of the arts- 
and; Sciences are ^favourable to virtue And to 
happiness. 

I. The cultivation of the Arts and Sciences naturally 

tend to promote Industry, 

II. Habits of Industry, are favourable to Firtue ana* 

Piety. 

III. The practice of Firtue and Piety ensures to man the 

greatest portion of happiness, tatting into conside- 
ration his relation to the present and to a future 
state of existence. 

The subject is peculiarly interesting, for the march of 
intellect has commenced, and seems rapidly advancing. 
Instruction is pouring into the four quarters of the habita- 
ble globe, mankind are arousing from their death-like 
slumbers, and it is of importance to settle whether it may 
be better to aid their inquii ies, or to admonish them to 
return to goihic and barbarian ignorance. Let us enter on 
the examination, place both sides of the argument in the 
balance, and observe which shall preponderate* 

In this view of the question it is not necessary to sepa- 
rate the arts from the sciences ; they are so blendid, that it 
becomes difficult, if not impossible. There can scarcely* 



exist a doubt, but that in the infancy of society, agricul- 
ture claimed the earliest attention, the animal frame was 
the same then as it is at present, experiencing the same, 
necessities, possessing the same senses, and the same de- 
sires. To obtain a supply of daily food, became therefore 
an object of daily concern ; our first parents having been 
expelled paradise in consequence of, disobedience, the 
earth was destined to produce thorns and 'thistles ; the herb 
of the field was appointed them for food, but man was 
required to cultivate it with the sweat of his brow, w;se 
ordination of the All- Wise Governor, who knew what 
was in man. When vice had once found an entrance into 
the heart, indolence would have served , but to. accelerate 
its progress ; and had the earth produced its supplies spon- 
taneously, it would have been a curse rather than a bles~_ 
sing. Industry therefore received the sanction of the Most 
High, and thenceforth whatever tends to promote virtuous 
industry, co-operates with his benevolent designs,, 

It is worthy of peculiar observation, that God has, in » 
most remarkable manner, given his sanctions to industry. 
He honoured it in his servants Moses and David, by calling 
them from their .occupations, whilst tending their flocks \ 
the diligence of Solomon in the cultivation of his mind, » 
evident from the irrefragable, proofs thereof, which are 
left upon record. Matthew was selected as a disciple 
when receiving the Roman tribute. Luke was a painter 
*e a physician* John was occupied in fishiag, wheq 



chosen as the bosom companion of his Lord and 
Paul was active in what he deemed his professional duty, 
and hastening to Damascus when the heavenly vision ar- 
rested his progress; and, above all, to testify the divine 
approbation to honest industry, the Lord, of Life and 
Glory, condescended to make his entrance into our world, 
as the reputed son of a carpenter of Nazareth. 

Agriculture may he considered as the primeval art, and 
maybe denominated the original spring of all national 
wealth. If an accurate account could be made up of the 
sum of happiness which each art and science had produced, 
agriculture would be found to have contributed the largest 
share. I In the fragrance and freshness of the morning 
the labourer goes forth to his daily task, and when, after 
th» j&tigues of the day, he retires to rest, how calm, how 
sound his sleep ; if happily instructed to view in all he sees 
around him and above him, the traces of his God and Fa- 
ther, he need not envy 'the monarch on his throne. 

Each alternate season, each revolving day, nay each 
succeeding hour has its appointed duties ; he who faith- 
fully discharges them lives a life of tranquillity, and bene- 
fits mankind. The husbandman has little reipite, if he 
has any, it is in that delightful season, when the earth 
having received its supplies. — He caa, like its divine au- 
thor, contemplate it with admiration and joy, and an- 
' liuunce, That u it is' good." 



W the East as well in ancient as in more modem iu. 
Igriculture, was held in the highest respect ; among ih f l 
Assyrians and the Persians those Satraps were rewa. 
under whose government the lands were found best 
tivated. Rings and philosophers deemed it worthy %' 
their study; iu China and in Egypt it was, and still 1 
tinues to be, made aspecial object of attention, ahd'ainUHi; 
the Romans, the conquerors of the world how nfc ;I V >, 
after leading their troops to victory, returned to theu 
ternal homes, and guided the plough. Let it be reTifJfc 
bered also, in favour of this argument, that Rome waV]#k 
conquered until given up to indolence and vice, she dfP- 



ItQi 



a>— 



tivated. her lands by means of the slaves whom her vi 
lies had made captives. 

It would be an interesting investigation to as^riilFh 
how much of the preponderating influence which \_ 
Britain holds in the scale of nations, is traceable 16 il& 
'industry excited by the highly improved state of her , :r 
culture. 

It may be asked, whether the savage who prowls *fifb 
forest to obtain a precarious existence, experiences °iR& 
half of the enjoyments or iatisfactions that the -hush alfc- 
man partakes of on beholding the happy effects of his { fc 
hour, in the springing and the ripening corn. OLveT^ 
how large a portion of the world lies still uueiillmtfetL% 
repel the indolence, awaken the 'activity , and *fh'£fi@£& r feb 
of Generations ret unborh. 



This subject might, by its illustrations, extend itself into 
volumes; enough, it is presumed, has been advanced to 
prove that the art of agriculture has in all periods been fa- 
vourable to industry. 

The necessity of shelter from the inclemency of the 
changiug seasons, and the chilliness or cold of night, gave 
rise to architecture. Rude in its first essays, it consisted 
probably of huts, formed from branches of trees, or caves 
in the rocks, or mud cottages, if the principles of cement 
were thus early understood. 

Population increasing, cities were built, and what was 
at first merely necessary became studied as an art; orna- 
ments were added to conveniences, and elegant structures 
were erected; building became a distinct occupation, and 
the powers of the human mind were directed to the im- 
provement of the science. We early read of the tower of 
Babel, of the cities of Babylon and Nineveh, to these suc- 
ceeded the massy structures of Egypt, the temples of Pal- 
myra and of Balbec, and the polished structures of Greece 
and Rome. 

Here I may be permitted to repeat a remark, which I 
made on another occasion, that the general style of the 
architecture of a country, partakes greatly of the character 
of its inhabitants, except where foreign taste or temporary 
fantasies have been introduced : in the moveable tents cf 



the Arabs, may be traced their erratic lives, in the ligbt 
ness of the Chinese and Eastern buildings is perceptible, the 
characters which the people exhibitand which their laws and 
governments Lave so greatly contributed to form. Greece, 
in a peculiar manner, illustrates this remark. Out of the 
five orders of architecture, which are in universal use to 
this day — three, namely, the Doric, the Ionic, and the 
Corinthian were of Grecian origin. 

Could a correct estimate be made of the vast amount 
of human industry, which has been employed in the eon-*- 
struction of the churches, the temples, the obelisks, the 
pyramids, the walls, and the cities of the world from the 
creation, how immense would be the result, human powers 
are unequal to the calculation. 

Manufactures and commerce come next under conside- 
ration. Although these have been excluded from what 
are usually denominated the liberal arts, they are so ne- 
cessary to human comfort, that in the very earliest periods 
of the world, they must have received attention. Next to 
food and shelter, covering becomes necessary. On quit- 
ting paradise clothing was adopted. As Cain tilled the* 
ground and Abel fed his flocks, an interchange of produce 
took place, for barter constituted the only basis of early 
commerce. Although it is not noticed, there cannot exist a 
doubt, but that previous to the destruction of mankind by 
a flood, some considerable progress both in commerce and 



";o;iires must Lave been attained, tlie construction of 
\J# ark - iiself involves this conclusion. 

\ am fully aware, that although botli manufactures and 
commerce will he admitted to have promoted industry, 
yr\ it will be asserted that they are unfriendly to virtue, 

aerating a contractedness of mind, and a narrowness 
a£ spirit; the late lady Craven and others of our best 

rs, deny this: in her voyage to the Crimea, she ad- 

es an opinion that she had ever found in the mcr- 
^mlle interest, men of the best understanding and the 
?r\\ c t enlarged minds; a further proof in corroboration of 

sentiment may be observed in the very liberal sub- 
.^ct lotions which that class of men have from time to time 

$, for almost every ill to which suffering humanity 
b liable. 



Permit me, In some ^enr.ure, to digress from my sub- 
to rescue commerce from undeserved obloquy. Pro^j 
ice, with that wisdom and benevolence which charac- 
< v^sfs all its designs, has assigned to every one his station 
icjfjtj, and though the desire of gain is the ruling prin-j 
jjijplg, as well of the manufacturer as of the commerciant; 
yj ; . if they make or vend articles which supply the neces- 
or the conveniences of others, excellent in their 
, and at a fair price , benefit is reciprocally received, 
>'4 such men are entitled to respect according to their 
ancl character. Benjamin Franklin was not more 



9 
truly honourable when a legislator, than, when as an au- 
thor he -devoted his talents to his country's welfare. 

By Commerce the natural productions of one country 
are diffused into all others ; But it would be a mere waste 
of time to point out the numerous advantages which result 
therefrom, or to insist upon the amount of human industry 
generated thereby. Tyre, Sidon, Carthage, Alexandria, 
the Venetian Stater, Belgium, Flanders, Hambourgh, Hol- 
land, and Great Britain, have successively exhibited the 
advantages of commerce. 

Intimately connected with commerce is the art of Navi- 
gation j if we except the ark of Noah, which was con- 
structed by divine direction, we know little of its origin. 
The discovery of the compass is ascribed to the Greeks, 
but it is well ascertained that the Phoenecians bad pre- 
viously traded to ancient Britain ; bold must have been 
that adventurer who sailed, first, out of sight of land with- 
out a compass. In this branch of art and its dependencies*, 
was opened another fruitful source of human industry. 

Geometry was found requisite a§ population increased, 
and property became divisable; it acquired a perfection 
in Egypt; after the waters of the Nile had subsided; it was 
deeded to ascertain for each proprietor Jiis proper land- 
marks previously to the inundation 3 its value as the basis 
of numerous other sciences was soon discovered, and it was 

C 



JO 

f&pidly brought 'to perfection; il is the $erai of many of 
ourmest useful arts and sciences, and both in its specula- 
tive and practical operations, highly contributes to human 
industry. Jt becomes of great importance also in its ef- 
fects on the human mind, by forming it to habits of mathe- 
matical precision. 

Divine Science of Astronomy, who shall dare to pro- 
fane thee by asserting that the contemplation of thy sub- 
lime mysteries are unfavourable to human welfare. 'Long 
ere the science had a name, the regular recurrence of the 
natural phcenomena must have forced mankind to wonder 
and to adore. In the mild nights and cloudless skies of 
Eastern climes, the revolutions of the planets, the rising 
and the sitting of the stars, early excited the observations 
of the Chaldean shepherds, who tended their flocks by 
night. The moon in rayless majesty, and the sun as it 
rose above the Eastern horizon in inexpressible grandeur, 
eould not fail to attract attention. The uniform return of 
day and night, and of the alternate seasons, excited the 
conjecture of the Magi, and astronomy became a science. 
From Chaldea it passed into Egypt, thence to Phoenicia, 
and from Phoenicia to Greece j but oh ! what an incalcula- 
ble amount of observation, of conjecture, of industry, 
what an employment of human intellect and of human la- 
bour, must have been exerted before the solar year was ac- 
ourately ascertained, eclipses were calculated with precision 
or ere Sir Isaac Newton was enabled to discover that law of 



1 i , 

gravitation by which the planeis are aiaintaincd in their 
courses, sphere round sphere, and system round system re- 
volves, projected by infinite wisdom, maintained by unli- 
mited power, and destined to accomplish the designs* of 
unbounded benevolence. 

The laws winch direct the Comets in their erratic 
courses, and permit those illustrious strangers to become 
occasionally within the observation of the inhabitants of 
the globe wherein we dwell, have hitherto eluded human 
research ; those laws will serve to awaken new investiga- 
tions. But when human intellect shall have done its ut- 
most, it will be compelled to exclaim in the contemplation 
of the Great Architect of the universe, Who can by search- 
ing find out thee? Who can find out the Almighty to per- 
fection ? 

Who then shall dare assert, that this noble science, 
which enables us to discover and unfold those wonders 
and marks of wisdom, and design which appear around us, 
tends to corrupt the manners and to lead to vice. Does it 
not rather elevate the mind and teach it to adore the 
Great Creator in these, his wondrous works! 

The art of Poetry has,, through all ages, received due ho- 
nours ; in the East, and particularly amongst the Persians 
and Arabians it is held in the highest veneration. It con- 
tributes not, indeed^ to the necessities of man; but, 



liow docs it serve to brighten and to clieer his gloomy ami 
rugged road through the wilderness of life. The song of 
Moses and the children of Israel, is one of the first and 
finest specimens of this divine art upon record. Thus 
pure in its erigin, and employed in its Creator's praise, 
happy would it have been for mankind if it never had 
been polluted to baser purposes. It has ever had a power- 
ful influence on public manners. The ode and the epic 
poem were calculated to honour the deity, or in their in- 
ferior destination to hand down to posterity a record of 
praiseworthy deeds, thereby to excite to an imitation 
thereof. 

Tragedy was calculated to inspire with horror for 
trime or reverence for virtue. Comedy and satyr to wage 
war against folly and vice, and by exposing it to view to 
laugh it out of countenance; and elegy to express our 
sorrows over departed excellence; all operating in the way 
of excitation to activity of mind. Each has contributed 
to engage the active mind of man in sweet employ, to ele- 
vate his soul, to enlarge his ideas, to promote his welfare. 
In how many instances have the moral, virtues hem 
planted deeply in the human mind by the dulcet sounds 
of poetry, and become active principles for the regula- 
tion of the future conduct. Sometimes indeed its flowers, 
by some destructive genius, may have been interwoven 
into 8ii ornamenjal chaplet, and presented to loveliness 



to 



and innocence to ensnare and to destroy. Accursed be that 
genius which pollutes an art destined to re-echo the 
of heaven, to repeat the language of hell. 

Music, the sister art of poetry, is another of the dowers 
scattered in the path of life; in the infancy of the world it 
served like poetry to elevate devotion. We soon find 
Tubal, a descendant of Cain, named as the father of all 
such as handle the harp and the organ. When David 
seized the lyre and united poetry with music, what enrap- 
tured tones are heard resounding, they have been and will 
continue to he *• the songs of the pilgrims in the days of 
their pilgrimage." 

This art becomes pernicious only, when pursued with 
an avidity that engrosses time, which ought to be devoted 
to more beneficial purposes, or when by the perpetual 
strains of soft and lascivious airs, the mind becomes un- 
fitted for the discharge of those relative duties which ap- 
pertain to life j its natural tendency is to give employment 
and innocent amusement to thousands; but whilst this 
may be considered as its secondary object, its primary ob- 
ject should be to aid the notes of praise and adoration. 

Assembled men to the deep organ join 

The loud resounding voice oft breaking clear,. 

At solemn pauses, through the swelling base ; 

A-nd, as each mingling flame increases eac& 

•i>» one united ardour rise to heaven,* 1Th6m ?<>"*•. 



1* 



It irs remarkable that the earliest mention thai we have 
of the art of Sculpture, is the account of the molten calf 
which the children of Israel demanded of Aaron, when 
Moses was gone up into the Mount of God to receive in- 
structions for the government of that rebellious people. 
Some writers have argued indeed, that, the clause in the 
second commandment, which forbids, "To. make unto 
thyself any graven image," is absolute against sculpture 
and painting. But had the Almighty Governor of the 
World intended this, would he have commanded, in the 
construction of the Ark and of the Mercy Seat, to make 
two Cheruhims of gold of beaten work, and the Cherubims 
shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the Mercy 
Seat with their wings, and their faces looking to one an- 
other, towards the Mercy Seat shall the faces of the Che- 
ruhims be ? The idolatry which is forbidden, is the bowing 
down or worshipping the work of man's, hands, rather than 
the one God, the only proper object of religious worship, 
who alone is entitled to the homage of the heart. 

It was reserved for the Greeks to bring Sculpture to a 
perfection which has never been exceeded. Attica abounded 
in fine quarries of marble and most excellent artists, Phi- 
dias, Polyclet.es, Myron, Lysippus, Praxiteles, and others, 
2 left works to immortalize their names. These flou- 
rished antecedent to the introduction of Christianity, their 
-'forks nny>t have been visible in the different cities of 

tTtoe, when Christ and his disciples laid the foundations 



10 

©/ our divine religion, and must ha?e received reprobation , 
if contrary to divine command. May we not safely thea 
infer that they are in themselves innocent, nay valuable as 
industrious employment*, and criminal only when they be- 
come objects of worship, or withdraw the affections from 
the supreme object of love and regard. 

Several of these observations, as applied to Sculpture, 
are equally applicable to painting, an art not in use until 
a subsequent period, and said to have been accidentally 
discovered. It is claimed indeed by the Egyptians, but 
most commonly awarded to the city of Corinth in Gree«e* 
Homer, who often speaks of sculpture, mentions neirbiv 
picture or painter. 

Poetry, music, sculpture and painting, have each, af- 
forded valuable and useful employments, promoted in- 
dustry and banished indolence. 

It must be admitted indeed, that the arts of sculpture 
and of painting, have from the earliest periods of their in- 
vention been prostituted to the basest and most ignoble 
purposes ; Greece and Rome exhibited specimen* of the 
art, which cannot be too severely reprobated; and in mo- 
dern times, a neighbouring nation has employed these arts 
to corrupt the pure springs of virtue too fatally, the 
xuiwds of youth are polluted e'er passion has begun to hud. 
Vice is engendered in hot beds, aad females, wlik a most, 



hardened and unblushing eflVontry, offer for public saley 
exhibitions of scenes which would disgrace a common 
brothel j; the industry which produced these, is the in- 
dustry of devils who rejoice at the misery of mankind; 
these are cases that call aloud for the interference of the 
arm of power, and the unabated severity of most exem- 
plary punishment. 

But is it fair to argue from the abuse of a benefit, and 
the tardiness of legislative authority against the benefit it- 
self, We abuse the blessing and arraign the divine bene- 
factor. These arts, under judicious regulations, are con- 
ducive to the most valuable purposes. How many useful 
lessons of virtue are taught to youth from delineations of 
the praiseworthy actions of the times that are past. 

How beautifully and how beneficially has B. West, in 
our own country, directed all his eminent talents to de- 
lineate the great events handed down to us in the Scrip- 
ture history, and to the honour of our country be it known, 
his genius has been duly rewarded, 

Housseau beheld in the French school much lo call 
forth just indignation, and every virtuous heart will unite 
with him in reprobating its licentiousness. Had the art 
been confided to such delineations only, it had been better 
to have banished from the world. The state of demorali- 
zation which prevails so extensively in the continent, ma 



l 7 
be traced In great measure to this cause. Aristotle thought, 
and he thought correctly, that painters had more in- 
flueDce on public manners, than even philosophers. St. 
Gregory relates, That a courtesan on contemplating the 
portrait of one who had become a convert to Christianity, 
became herself converted. 

However the artist may, in such representations, display 
his talent, lie does so at the expense of his character, be- 
neath those brilliant colours which allure and charm 
the eye, lurks a poison, more deadly than that which is 
said to dislil from the leaves of the uppas tree. 

In similar manner might we trace numerous other arls 
and sciences, and the benefits which have been derived 
from them as rhetoric, history, philosophy, chronology., 
and others. The art of writing, and that of priming, re- 
quire a more particular consideration. 

The art of writing or of giving durability to ideas, seems 
peculiarly honoured above all other arts, for the first in- 
stances we have recorded of it are the tables of stone 
which contained the commandments, and are said expressly 
to have been written by God himself, Exod. 02 — 16. 
The value of the blessing exhibits the attributes of its 
Divine Author. To estimate its worth, compare the mind 
of the untaught barbarian, the Hottentot, the CafFre, the 

D 



l'8 

savage Indian, or the wilder Scythian, with the well-regli* 
lated mind of David, Paul, Fenelon, Bacon, Addison, 
Johnson and others. Like the lamp in ihe labernacle of 
old it never goes out; it is light illuminating the dark 
hemisphere of mind, it is comfort in sorrow, it is hope in 
despair. By its recording power it unites distant ages, 
the memorials of the past hecome lessons for the future ; 
it secures the wisdom of one generation for the benefit of 
another, and elevates an enduring beacon for the use of 
distant ages. 

Unaided by the volume of Inspiration, we should have 
been at a loss to trace this noble art to its true source, that 
volume exhibits some of the most sublime examples of 
eloquence and of fine writing, independently of the mo- 
mentous truths which it contains. 

Its advantages exceed the power of description, it is the 
handmaid to all the other arts and sciences, it is the basif 
of laws and legislation, it is the chain which connects dis- 
tant countries, it is the medium through which the will of 
God is communicated to maB, it is the guide to immor- 
tality. 

Surely enough has been advanced to demonstrate that 
the discovery and cultivation of the arts and sciences na- 
turally tend to promote industry, which was our first po- 
sition to be proved. 



*9 

* 

II. Habits of Industry are highly favourable to Viriut 
-%nd to Piety, 

Indolence is the nurse of vice— Nay — in many instances 
it may be considered as the parent thereof. Slander, 
drunkenness theft, incontinence, lust, adultery, are some 
amongst many of the crimes which indolence tends to 
produce and to foster. Happy the man whom occupation 
preserves from temptation, who has no time to stray from 
the path, of duty. It has almost become a proverb, That 
* working neighbourhood is an honest neighbourhood. 

The alarming increase of crimes, within the last seven 
years, has very properly excited attention, and sn inquiry 
into the causes, when duly investigated, will doubtless be 
found to have been occasioned principally by the stagna- 
tion of commerce and the difficulty of obtaining employ- 
ment. Melancholy as is the fact, it would be better to 
trace it to such a cause than, to an increasing depravity of 
natural character.. Ther British character has been long 
renowned for activity and industry, as commerce revives, 
crimes will be found ; ta decrease/* 

If the vices, like overgrown- weeds, are found to attain 
the greatest heights in society, in society also the virtues 
axe known to put forth the fairest blossoms^. ami produce 
the: rich^i fruits*. 



20 



Can it be necessary, at the present period of the world, 
to argue in favour of virtue and piety, as essential to hap- 
piness. Alas ! a view of that world, even in the most en- 
lightened countries, proves the necessity of the argument. 
Again and again must it be urged to each successive gene- 
ration, ere ancient prophecy shall receive its accomplish* 
men'. 

There is within us a monitor whose warnings we should 
do well at all times to attend to, it sometimes speaks in a 
small still voice, sometimes iis echoes are more loud than 
thunder 5 oftentimes has it urged the guilty to confession, 
and compelled the murderer to become a self-accuser. Nor 
are its monitions confined to murder alone— the drunkard — 
the thief — the seducer — the adulterer — in vain strive to 
stifle its alarms ; a book, a house, an observation, unno- 
ticed by others, darts forth the arrows of conviction, and 
pierces the heart. This voice may be stifled, it may be 
quenched, but it will again burst forth, and if finally neg- 
lected will one day appear in terrible array against the 
hardened culprit. 

There is only one safe road to happiness, namely, the 
strait path of duty. Many seek by different ways to ar- 
rive at the same end. But the attempt is vain, they may 
have amusement, they may enjoy gratification ; they may 
whirl in the giddy circles of pleasure. But happiness,; 



21 



prising from the consciousness of duty done, and the 
brigjit anticipations of its promised rewards, will never be 
found out of that path which Almighty Wisdom has 
pointed out for " wisdoms ways/' are " ways of plea- 
santness, and all her paths are peace." 

But, whilst steadily pursuing this path, it is not for- 
bidden occasionally to strew it with flowers. The arts 
and sciences present themselves on every side, and should 
be more or less encouraged by all, according to their rank 
and station in society. Let those who are called to shine 
in the upper ranks of life, be decorated in the costly at- 
tire, and exhibit the sparkling diamond, the. emerald, the 
ruby or the chaste pearl. Virtue is not absolutely ba- 
lanced from palaces, although It may be a rare visitant 
there. Humility and other Christian virtues may inhabit 
the heart amidst the splendour of a court, and the gaudy 
trappings of fashion, whilst pride and avarice are often found 
beneath the thread bare coat, and the abodes of poverty. 

He who created man in his own image, still maintains 
with the mind of man intimate communication. He 
taught the artificer to work in iron, he instructed Newton 
to unfold the great laws of nature, and those sparks of 
genius which have from time to time originated all the 
inventions which contribute so essentially, to the comfort of 
mankind, are but emanation* of Almighty Wisdom, im- 



23 % 

■ 

parted at such periods as to omniscience seemed best, and? 
to crown the blessings he promised eternal life. 

Be it remembered, therefore, that although the cultiva- 
tion of the arts and sciences are not only lawful but praise- 
worthy, nevertheless if made the primary end and aim of 
Hfe^ they are diverted from their original destination, the 
glory of God and the welfare of man ! 

Although what has been already advanced might be 
deemed sufficient to establish our original position, never- 
theless some .further remarks may be thought necessary 
upon the various arguments which J. J. Rousseau inge- 
niously makes use of. His great mistake is, that he has not 
distinguished between the natural tendency of the Arts and 
Sciences , and that abuse of them which the depravity of 
the human heart has occasioned. Cultivated as the great 
end and aim of life, they do indeed produce all the evils 
he deplores; thus pursued, (hey enervate the body, debase- 
the mind, generate luxury, and an artificial state of society,, 
and bring nations to destruction. 

With him I lament, that (c the exterior of the counte- 
nance is not the true image of the 'heart — that sincere 
friendships are rare — that the Creator of the Universe is 
blasphemed ;" but charge not these on literature and the: 
arts, ; they rather spring from human depravity, defective 
education, and bad laws and government. 



25 

We are not instructed that the arts had male great pro- 
gress when the flood destroyed the race of men, we are 
only told, " That eery imagination of the thoughts of 
man's heart was evil, and that continually* And to the 
same fruitful source may all subsequent ills be traced. 

To these causes may it be ascribed that the Chaldean 
philosophers perverted the sublime science of astronomy, 
to the base purposes of astrology and soothsaying. That 
the idolatrous Egyptians carved out gigantic gods of stone 
and worshipped them. That polished and enlightened 
Greece, although eminently distinguished by fine taste, 
c xhibiled monuments of indecency and depravity, that 
would have disgraced barbarians, nor is imperial Rome 
also free from similar censure. And in more modern 
times, Italy and France, have by licentious pictures 
and books demoralised their population, and called down 
the wrath of heaven — would that I could wholly exempt 
my native country from a similar imputation. I rejoice,, 
however, to state, that within these last twenty years, the 
public mind and taste in Britain, have undergone a very 
considerable change and improvement on this point. 

The richest gifts of heaven may be converted into 
curses, the natural appetites may he pampered and in- 
dulged until they destroy life, the golden grain may be 
eaten to excess, and wine, which was destined to cheer 
the heart of man, is often taken in such qualities, as to 



2'± 

CYem -o travel on horseback. There will be urged against 
liie the renowned valour of all those modern warriors, 
who are scientifically disciplined. They will boast their 
bravery in the day of battle, but they say not how they 
support the excess of fatigue, or how they resist the ri- 
gour of the seasons, and the intemperance of the air. A 
little more sun or a little more snow, the privation of a 
few accustomed indulgences would melt down and destroy 
in a few days the best of our armies. Intrepid warriors 
listen for once to the truth which you so rarely hear. — 
You are brave, I acknowledge it — you would have 
triumphed with Hannibal, at Cannse, and at Trasimenes. 
Caesar with you would have passed the Paibicon and sub- 
jected his country, but it would not have been with you 
that the first would have crossed the Alps, or that the 
other would have vanquished your ancestors. 

Battles do not always constitute the success of war, and 
there is for generals an art superior to that of gaining vic- 
tories. Some rush into action with intrepidity, who are 
nevertheless bad officers. In the same soldier a little more 
strength and vigour may be perhaps more necessary, than 
so much bravery, which does not guarantee against death, 
and what signifies it to the state whether their troop* 
perish by fever, by cold, or by the fire of the enemy. 

If the culture of the sciences is prejudicial to the quali- 
fication of warriors, it is still more so to morality. It is ia 
our earliest years that education insensibly adorns our minds 
and corrupts our judgment. / see on all sides immense 
establishments where ihej bring up youth at great cost, 
and teach them all things except their duties. Your chil- 
dren are ignorant of their mother tongue, but they speak 
others which are not in use any where ; they can com- 



pose verses, which with difficulty they comprehend, with- 
out being able to distinguish error from truth. They pos- 
sess the art of rendering themselves unintelligible to others 
by specious arguments. But magnanimity, equity, tempe- 
rance, humanity, courage, they know not what they mean. 
The blandishments of patriotism now meet their ears, and if 
they hear God spoken of, it is rather to fear him, than to 
have him in reverence. I should prefer, said a sage, that 
my scholar should pass his time in a game of tennis — his 
body would at least be well formed. I know that it is ne- 
cessary to employ children, and that idleness is for ihem 
of all things most dangerous. What then ought they to 
learn? This is the grand question. Let ihem learn that 
which they ought to do when men } and not that which they 
ought to forget. 

Our gardens are ornamented with statues, and our ga- 
laries with pictures. What subjects think you do these 
chef d'oeuvres of art exhibit to public admiration. The 
defenders of their country or the men still more great, 
who have enriched it with their virtues. No, they are 
the images of all the wanderings of the heart, and of the 
mind, carefully drawn from the ancient mythology, and 
presented at an early age to the curiosity of our children, 
doubtless that they may have before their eyes at an early 
age the examples of evil actions, before they know even 
how to read. 

Whence arises all these abuses, if not from the fatal 
inequality introduced amongst men by the distinction of 
talents, and by the disparaging of the virtues. Behold 
here the most striking effect of all our studies, and the 
most dangerous of ail their consequences. It is no longer 
enquired of man if he has probity, but if he has talents j nor 

D 



nate introduction of them into our public ceremonies with- 
out comment, has been productive of incalculable mis- 
chiefs and makes the severest reprobation. Ovid is an in- 
structor in licentiousness; Homer and Lucian have kindled 
and fomented the flames of war through successive ages. 
It will he granted that in Greece the arts and the sciences 
attained their loftiest elevation. But oh, how did the cor- 
rupt hearts of its inhabitants turn them from their true 
end to the most degrading of purposes. Architecture and 
sculpture were employed in erecting temples in honour of 
heathen deities, whose crimes ought to have handed clown 
their names to universal execration, rather than to have 
been held up as objects of adoration ; thus they invoked 
the wrath of heaven against them, the extent of that wrath 
let the present state of modern Greece declare. 

The eloquent panegyric upon all-conquering Rome 
equally deserves reprobation. Let us no longer be de- 
ceived by high sounding names and honours unjustly be- 
stowed. The insatiable thirst of conquest and dominion, 
which appeared hereditary in the Roman Emperors, enti- 
tles the majority of them to the title of the butchers of 
mankind 5 these are the sentiments with which I would 
instruct youth to read the blood stained pages of their 
hisjories, and these are the causes which called down 
upon the several antient kingdoms, and upon Imperial 
Rome, those severe judgments from heaven which has 
destined that country to become an imperishable memo- 



rial for mankind. If the history of the human rase has 
recorded one maxim more indelibly than another, it is 
this, u That moral evil is the cause of natural evil; if 
there had not been sin, there would not have been suf 
fering.*' 

Constantinople may be adduced in further proof of 
kb-se observations; there, a dark and idolatrous system 
of theology, not content with the encouragement which it 
offers to vice in its terrestrial dwellings, attempts with 
awful impiety to make it an inhabitant of heaven, sullying 
the purity of the celestial abodes with sensual delights. 

If literature, art aud science, are encouraged in Asia, it 
is but in a limited degree ; a barrier is there placed against 
general improvement, which seems to say, Hitherto thou 
shall go and no further. The customs, the laws, the in- 
stitutions, the religious code of the Asiatics, however ad- 
mirable in part, present a whole, which so far from being 
Worthy of imitation, they are deserving of severe execration. 

Weak must be that cause which finds it necessary to 
call in the examples of the barbarous Scythians, the an- 
ient Germans, or Rome in the time of her poverty, to its 
support. Ignorance, and the gratification of the sensual 
appetites, constituted their enjoyments. Science had not 
then unfolded her ample stores, rewarding her disciples as 
they 53 en their way; the arts and literature were in great 



measure unknown ; to ear, to drink, to sleep, and to con- 
quer, constituted the bliss of nations. The bliss of the sow 
that wallows in her mire, or of the ferocious and blood- 
thirsty tiger, that gluts its appetite by the blood "of its 
victim. 

Of Sparla, be it remembered that it owed its pre-emi- 
nence to the wise institutions of Lyenrges, which repelled 
luxury, enforced temperance, and by introducing a system 
of public education, becomes an evidence in favour of all 
that I am pleading for. 

Socrates lived under a dark economy and in an iron 
age, his penetrating mind darted beyond the period in 
which he flourished, he foresaw the necessity of a divine 
revelation to illuminate the world, to elevate knowledge 
above the jargon of the schools, and to his arguments and 
his advocacy I appeal to substantiate my position. He 
saw, indeed, the limited nature of all human knowledge ; 
had he been instructed in our divine theology, he would 
have been the first to admit, that all science is vain that 

' r 

does not ultimately tend to the knowledge and obeissance fo 
4g£ the Great Supreme, and that the noblest object cf the 
contemplation of the immortal soul, is the immortal God. 

The very constitution of society, as consisting of various 
ranks and talents, would require a system of jurisprudence, 
even if mankind had attained a higher degree of moral pe** 



n than lias hitherto fallen to their lot, and 'history 
would not cease to be interesting, although its pages 
should no longer be marked by relations of the ravages 
of war. 

That the sciences have their birth in indolence, is an 
assertion so 'absurd, that it requires no contradiction. 
That they have often been prostituted to encourage hu- 
man vanity, and to engender luxury, is much to be 
lamented; but these are by no means necessarily con- 
nected with knowledge; many instances may be produced 
of those whose minds have been highly cultivated by 
science and by taste to adorn secular society, who at the 
same time have been disciplining to become pillars in the 
temple of God above. 

That the luxuries and vices of mankind should have 
attained such a height as to authorize the traffic in hu 
flesh, is so degrading to our common humanity, that we 
cannot but wonder that the forbearance of Omnipotence 
endured it so long. With ardent feelings of patriotism, I 
exult to say, that those laws which authorized the pur- 
chase of slaves, more sanguinary than those of Draco, are 
blotted from the British code; they have left a stain, in- 
deed, which all our feasts of charity cannot obliterate* 

If dexterity in the deslriielivc. arts of war was as praise- 



yami-hy as Rousseau rcprest. ih Scythians, the Franks 
and the Saxons, deserve his praise. We might instruct 
ova- children from the untameable tyger, or send them to 
the American Indians, to learn the art of scalping, where 
ifeey might partake of the luxury of drinking copious 
draughts of an enemy's blood from the skulls taken in 
battle. 

Piousseau lived encircled by frivolity, and surrounded 
by a voluptuous court, dazzled by iis splendour, he mea- 
sured mankind a! large by what he saw around him, the 
arts and the sciences were appropriated solely to engender 
luxury and promote vice, and he condemned them: he 
beheld Christianity, shrouded in the mists of delusion and 
superstition, and he become sceptic. 

The fascinating representation which his fancy pour- 
trays of the pure manners of former times, the golden age 
of poets, can no longer be brought forward to deceive. 
Since the angel received his commission to close the gates 
of Paradise, the human heart has been uniformly found 
%o be *' desperately wicked-," witness that proaeness to 
idolatry, which from the earliest ages has led mankind to 
worship stocks and stones, rather than the only living and 
True God ! 

The reflecting part of mankind an? ready to admit that 



great defects ore still to .1 in the various systems of 

education now in use. The moral faculties are not suffi- 
ciently attended to ; but although many of the blossoms 
of the tree of knowledge are thus blighted, some are 
found to yield precious fruit* 

If brilliant talents are preferred to the virtues, an inor- 
dinate love of gain is one cause ; abilities often lead to 
riches and power, when virtue languishes in obscurity, 
Wealth is worshipped as a deity, poverty is regarded as a 
demon; thus we often see integrity in rags and vice, 
rearing its brazen front in senates, in courts, and in 
palaces :-— 

" Well dresse^ 
ei Well equipaged, is ticket good enough 
" To pass us readily through every door." 

That the u powers of eloquence and the typographi- 
cal art/' have been occasionally perverted to base and ig- 
noble purposes will also be granted. If Hobbes and 
Spinoza do not sufficiently evince it, let an appeal be made 
to the writings of Rousseau, Voltaire, Condorcet and 
others of the French misnamed Philosophers. Have they 
not scattered licentiousness, doubt and scepticism with li- 
beral hand, and demoralized the world. Examine the 
learned universities on the continent, those hot beds of 
infidelity, from whence, as from Pandoras' bo*, Las issued 
a large proportion of the evils which afflict our raee. Is 



52 

rjol ibis the pestilence that stalkeili by noon day, whi( h 
urgeth . to despair and destruction. These are but ihe 
dark parts of the picture; there is a light which shine th 
like the sun at noon dny. The volume of inspiration h s 
by means of the art of printing, been circulated thro; 
out the world; millions of our fellow-creatures have Sailed 
the blessing; the many great and precious promises which 
it imparts from the source of all goodness, have cheered 
the comfortless abodes of poverty, dissipated the over- 
hanging storms of sorrow, and illumined the fading eye 
of death with bright hopes of immortality. 

From this sempiternal fountain, -this inexhaustible spring 
of felicity, Bacon, Newton, and other true philosophers, 
have poured forth precious streams, and from the same 
pure source future ages are destined to partake of an 
ocean of blessedness, already the full tides are pouring in 
on every side. 

Quid to heaven itbat Ron night be ranked 

among the Lei : the powers of his 

lence, and the fire of his genius had been enkindled 
at the divine altars, than had the sensibilities of his heart 
glowed with a pure and holy ilame, successive generations 
would have regarded him as a bright star in the hemis- 
phere of mind, a beacon to the world. 

Happy would it be if on all occasions, c( Kings did not 



35 

disdain to admit into their councils persons most capable 
to advise them ;" dawnings of ibis cherished hope appears; 
the hid confederation at Aix-la-Chapelle presents a new 
era in legislation. The mild and benevolent maxims of 
Christianity are admitted as the basis on which,the magni- 
ficent structure of peace has been elevated 3 the stately 
pillars which support it have their capitals adorned with 
the laurels and the bays, and the top stone is crowned by 
the rejoicings of Europe's millions. 

Mistaken reasoner ! <c flad the voice of conscience, in the 
silence of the passions," been sufficient, the ancient hea- 
then world had not become idolaters, neither had a Reve- 
lation from on high been vouchsafed; altars would not 
have been erected to the unknown God, nor would per- 
secution have had to boast of the innumerable victims it 
has offered at the shrine of superstition. A life of simpli- 
city and seclusion from the world, with the few wants of 
nature supplied, may generate a state of selfish enjoyment, 
a morbid happiness, with few vices and less virtues; 
but it is in society alone that those virtues bud and blos- 
som which bear most fruit to the glory of God and the 
happiness of mankind. 

We are apt to form our opinions of the halcyon state of 
natural society, from descriptions of travellers, who are 
interested in the relations they give, or who have cursorily 

F 



surveyed the state of society and morals in the conn tries 
•which they describe; beneath this polLhed exterior there 
exists a deformity hideous to view, exhibited in the nume- 
rous acts of idolatry and savage barbarity, all which prove 
the defects of the system and the necessity of a better. 

Had eternal wisdom formed us to derive our best en- 
joyments from a state of ignorance, we should not have 
beheld, in the formation of the human mind, those marks 
of design, those capabilities to attain and to increase know- 
ledge^ for he doeth nothing in vain; he gave wisdom as a< 
day star from on high, to illumine our path and enable us 
to pursue it rejoicing, however rugged the road, and how- 
ever surrounded with thorns and briars. 

See with what delight the botanist traces the laws which* 
pervade the vegetable world, viewing in all the iinambi** 
guous foots! eps of a God. Observe the geologist or the 
mineralogist, scale the mountains, or descend into the ca- 
vities of the earth to explore the wonders of creation iri 
the mineral kingdom. Behold the naturalist range ihk 
four quarters of the globe to trace the laws of organic 
matter in the animal creation « Turn to the philosopher 
W'ho dives into the sublime mysteries of the sciences, or 
jthe metaphysician tracing as in a map the mind of man ; 
sum up the amount of happiness enjoyed in the several 
pursuits and the power of numbers will be found unequal 
to express the mighty sum. 



All nature teems with marks of heaven's benevolence ; 
the prismatic colours in the Low of promise, are formed, 
lo delight and to cheer; that bow might have displayed te- 
nebric horrors. Our flowers might have been all dark and, 
cloctuy, our fruits tasteless and sour. 

In paradise man saw himself surrounded with forcible 
evidence of the happiness intended him by his Creator, 
even when expelled from that blissful abode, proofs of 
such intention accompanied him still. There was im-. 
parted to him genius to invent, and industry to perfect the. 
useful and the ornamental of life; for notwithstanding 
the sophistry of J. J.Rousseau, genius is not the vivid 
flasli that bursts from the storm to destroy, it resembles 
rather the splendid sun-beam which dissipates threatening 
darkness, and sheds a glory around the hemisphere of 
mind; the empire of mind is more extended than all other 
empires, it sways a sceptre over a prostrate world, and 
possesses this distinguishing characterestic^ that however 
unbounded its dominion, it sees other realms presented to 
its view, even to Infinity; as the Alpine traveller, who 
having reached earth's . loftiest summit, views around him 
a boundless horizon, and above him the starry canopy, 
where countless orbs roll on through immeasurable space. 

All the works of creation indicate the designs of their 
Great Author; the diamond is as much a diamond, w hen 



56 

eaverncd in its native heel, as when sparkling on the attire 
of beauty; but in vain had creative power formed it, if at 
the same time lie had interdicted man, by industry, from 
withdrawing it from its dark abode, or art and science 
from preparing it to adorn female lovelines, or to blaze in 
the imperial diadem. 

We do well to observe the plans of Omnipotence — Mark 
how, in a progressive manner, He makes his wonders 
known, by imparting to mankind, as ages revolve, the 
secrets of nature. Agriculture, geometry, architecture, 
and manufactures, were early communicated as necessary 
to existence; but it was reserved unto a later period in 
time, to unfold the laws which regulate the heavenly orbs, 
the ar(s of writing and printing, the principles of painting, 
magnetism, electricity, galvanism, etc. and who can tell, 
What wonders yet remain unrevealed to excite the indus- 
try and promote the comforts of the human race ? 

III. The practice of Virtue and Piety , ensures to man 
the greatest portion of happiness, taking into consi- 
deration his relation to the present and to a future 
state of existence. 

Admit a future state of existence, and the sanctions 
with which it comes revealed to us under the lumi- 
nous system of Christianity, and this part of our propo- 



sition becomes self-evident. In proportion as eternity ex- 
ceeds time in duration, in such proportion should it be 
our endeavour to secure our permanent interest therein, 
although called upon to sacrifice all our temporal interests 
In the pursuit. 

When Christianity received a divine commission to visit 
earth, she came clothed in a benign simplicity, and crowned 
with the beauty of holiness ; the evil passions of mankind 
hastened to tear off the- pure white robes, substituting the 
blood stained mantle and the garb of hypocrisy. 

Hence arose that mass of hatred, bigotry, persecution, 
bloodshed and cruelty, which, under the specious mask of 
religion, have trampled under foot the unalienable rights 
of mankind, and desolated the earth. 

Christianity, in its own divine operations and influences, 
was calculated to restore to men the lost joys of Eden, and 
to harmonise a world 5 by man^ obstinate perversity it has, 
in too many fatal instances, spread misery, where it woul3 
have dispensed peace. 

It is impossible to contemplate this subject without 
feeling its magnitude ; that vast ampitheatre, ** ■ hence 
Chiislianity first dawned, and which is destined to exhibit 
the scenes of its future glory, lies like a magnificent rn', : - , 



58 

waiting the lime when the mind of tLe Great Architect of 
the universe shall give forth his Almighty commands, to, 
restore it beyond even its pristine beauty ; nor is, it wholly 
unprepared for the coming events—the misled, and! de-, 
voted Mussulman acknowledges One only living and true 
God, and Christ as his prophet. Let Omnipotence but 
remove the veil that obscures the truths of revelation, and 
influences to prefer the absurd doctrines of Mahomet the 
impostor, to the wisdom of the heavenly Teacher. Light 
will burst forth through darkness that is felt, and prophecy 
receive its accomplishment. 

Mark the vast extent of territory where this delusion, reigns ; 
commencing at the westermost point of Africa it spreads v 
along the coast to Egypt, and far into the interior, through 
Arabia, Persia, Rindostan, Syria, Turkey in Europe and 
Greece j the very countries where Christianity first dawned 
upon the world, all lying in an humbled and degraded 
state, waiting only the subversion of one reigning dy- 
nasty, to prepare them to become the theatre of the vast 
and momentous even is predicted in the volume of Inspi- 
ration* 

To sum up all, it will appear > that although under an 
idolatrous mythology, and a relaxed state of morals, the 
arts and sciences have been perverted from their original 
destination, and have produced no inconsiderable degree 



of vice, immorality and misery $ yet, even in these cases, 
their advantages have preponderated; but when d'rected 
and regulated by the pure maxims of Christian theology 
they scatter blessings with a liberal hand. 

Hail! divine Christianity, all hail! you shed a glory 
around unseen before; the blaze of light indeed may be 
too strong for sceptic view, but to the faithful your benign 
rays diffuse tranquillity, peace and happiness here, and the 
full assurance of an enduring bliss hereafter. 



THE JENS). 



ESSAY 



JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU, 



which obtained 



THE PRIZE 

OF THE ACADEMY OF DIJON, 



f5o. 



IN THE QUESTION, 

W HET HER THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THK ARTS AND SCIENCE!}: 
HAVE TENDED TO PURIFY THE XANNEMS? 



TJUM81ATBB FROM THE FRENCH GENEVA EDITION- 



BRUSSELS: 
PRINTED AT THE BRITISH PRESI, 

Sect. 7. gSo, Rue Ferte. 



1818. 



-3" 



HAS THE" RE ESTABLISHMENT OF TH • ARTS AND SCIENCES' 
C0NTR1BUED TO PURIFY THE MANNERS.. 



It lias been doubted whether the re- establishment of the 
Arts and Sciences, have operated most to purify or to cor- 
rupt the manners. Which part shall I take in this ques- 
tion ? That which becomes an honest man, -who is of no 
party, and who does not value himself the less for that. 

I feel it difficult to adapt what I have to observe to the 
tiibunal which I address. How shall 1 dare to contemn 
the sciences before one of the most learned- societies of 
Europe; to praise ignorance in a celebrated academy, and 
reconcile a contempt of study wiilra respect for the truly s 
wise. I have foreseen these contrarieties, but they have not* 
deterred me. It is noL-seience that I arraign — it is virtue 
which I defend before virtuous men. Truth is more dear 
to such men, than learning to the learned. 

What have I then to dread? The judgment of the as- 
sembly which heais me — I acknowledge it, hut it is for the 
discourse itself — cot for the sentiments of the speaker.. 
Equitable sovereigns never hesitate to blame themselves iii 
doubtful points, and the most advantageous position for 
the display of just ree, is to have to defend ourselves against 
au incorruptible and enlightened party, judge in its own 
Cause. 

To this motive, which encourages me, is aoMed '"another, 
which detennmes me. it is this^ after having sustained, 



according to the light of nature, the cause of (ruth, wha 
ever he my success ; there is one prize which I am sure 
obtain, the approbation of ray own heart. 



to 



PART L 



It is a noble object of contemplation to view man, rising 
as it were from nothing by his own efforts ; dissipating, by 
the light of reason, the darkness in which nature had cn- 
velopped him— -elevating himself above himsdf — darting 
forth his mind into the heavenly regions — marching like 
the sun, with gigantic steps, through the boundless uni- 
verse; and what is yet more sublime and more difficult, 
turning bis thoughts inwards to the study of himself — his 
nature—his duties — and the great purposes for which he 
was created. Miracles are renewed in the few last ge- 
nerations. 

Europe had stink Into the barbarism of the earliest 
ages. The inhabitants of this part of the world, now so 
enlightened, lived for several centuries in a stale worse 
than that of ignorance. I know not how to describe the 
scientific jargon more contemptible, even, than ignorance, 
that had usurped the name of knowledge, and opposed an 
almost invincible obstacle to its advancement. A revolu- 
tion became necessary to awaken mankind to the exercise of 
common sense. It appeared, at length, where it was least 
expected. It was the stupid Mussulman, the eternal 
enemy of science, who gave it new birth. The fall of 
Constantine from the throne, transported into Italy the 
ruins of ancient Greece. France, in her turn, enriched 
herself with the precious spoils. The sciences *oon fol- 



'owed the introduction of letters — the art of writing cpri^ 
nected itself with the art of printing — an union which, 
however it may appear strange, -is nevertheless natural ; 
and men began to experience that the principal advantage 
of an intercourse with the muses, was to render them more 
sociable, and to inspire theni with the desire to please each 
oilier by Avorks worthy of approbation. 

The mind has it wants as well as the body, the one be- 
comes the foundation of society, the other constitutes its 
charms. Whilst laws and government, afford safety and 
happiness to men when associated together— letters, arts 
and sciences, less despotic, but perhaps more powerful, 
entwine garlands of flowers amongst the iron chains with 
which they are loaded, stifling in them that original senti- 
ment of freedom to which they appear to have been des- 
tined, teaching them to hug their chains, and forcing them 
into what is denominated a well regulated people. Neces- 
sity raised thrones, the arts and the sciences have strengih- 
ened them, (1) and a well governed population cultivate 
them. Happy slaves, you are indebted to them for that 
delicate taste and ingenuity on which you pique yourselves, 
that docility and that urbanity of manners which makes 
the intercourses between you so binding and so easy, in a 
word, the semblance of the virtues, without the posses- 
sion of any of them. 

It was this sort of politeness, so much the more amiable 
as it affects the least to exhibit itself, that formerly distin- 
guished Athens and Rome, in the boasted days of their 
magnificence and glory. By it also our own nation excels 
all other people, and all other times. A philosophic cha- 
racter 'without pedantry, natural' manners equally distant 
from the rusticity of the Teutonic, and from Italian pan- 



■teWnc. Tliese are tie fruits of a taslc acquired by excels 
lent siudy aud perfected by intercourse with mankind. 

How delightful would it be to live among you, if the 
exterior countenance was ever the true image of the heart, 
if decency was virtue, if our maxims became the rules of 
our conduct, if true philosophy was inseparable from pre- 
tensions. But these things are seldom found united, and 
virtue does not long march forward in such triumph. The 
fichnesss of his attire may announce an opulent man, and 
elegance of dress a man of taste. Man, healthy and ro- 
bust^ acknowledges no other token of honour, it is under 
the rustic garb of a labourer, and not under that of a cour- 
tier, that we find strength and vigour of body. Finery is 
not less foreign to virtue than to strength and vigour of 
soul. A vigorous man, in strong health, is a champion 
*who can fight naked if he please. He despises all the false 
ornaments which restrains the use of his strength, and of 
which the greater part have been invented, only to conceal 
some deformity. 

Before art had regulated our intercourses, and taught 
our passions to speak a language prepared for them, our 
manners were rustic, but they were natural, and the diffe- 
rence in behaviour announced at the first sight the diver- 
sity of character. Human nature, indeed, was not really 
|>etter, but men founded their safety in a facility to pene- 
trate each others intentions, and this advantage, of whick 
ive no longer know the value, spared them many vices. 

Now, indeed, researches more subtle, and a more re- 
fined taste, has reduced the art of pleasing to principles, 
there is found amongst us a shameful and deceitful uni- 
formity, apd all m&ds seem to have been cast m the same 



I 

mould. Politeness incessantly rules*-— convenience orders 
— we follow custom, but never our own inclinations. We 
dare not appear what we really are, and in this perpetual 
constraint mankind compose what we denominate society, 
placed in the same situations, doing the same things, if 
more powerful motives do not forbid. We can never 
know those with whom we have to do; it is neces- 
sary, therefore, to know a friend— to wait for great occa- 
sions — that is to say, to wait until there is no longer time 
so to do ; since, for these very occasions themselves, it i» 
essential to know him. 

What a train of vices is to he found in this uncertainty, 
<no more sincere friendships, no more real esteem, no more 
well grounded confidence, suspicions, jealousies, fears, 
coolness, reserve, hatred, deceit, conceal themselves inces- 
santly under this constraint ; a veil of perfidious politeness 
tinder this boasted urbanity, for which we are indebted to 
this enlightened age. We no longer profane the name 
of the Creator of the universe, but we insult him by our 
blasphemies, without offence to our scrupulous ears. We 
boast not of our own merit, but we derogate from that 
of others. We do not grossly outrage our enemy, but 
we calumniate him with great address. National hatreds 
Will be extinguished, but it will be by a love of country; 
a dangerous scepticism is substituted for a despised igno- 
rance — some excesses are forbidden, some vices are pro- 
scribed, but others are adorned with the name of virtues, 
it is necessary to have them, or to exhibit an affectation, 
of having them. Boast who will, of the sobriety of the 
philosophers of modern times, for my part I see nothing 
amongst them but a Tefinement in intemperance, as u»» 
Worthy of my praise as of their artificial simplicity. (2) 



u 

Such is tlie purify which our manners have acquired- 
it fs thus that we are become good people, it is for litera- 
ture, the sciences, and the arts, to claim that which belongs 
to them iri this -valuable work. I shall add only one ob- 
scrvation more, it is that an inhabitant of some distant 
conn tries, who would be desirous to form an idea of Eu- 
a'opean manners, of the state of the sciences amongst us, of 
the perfection of the arts., of 'the decency of our specta- 
cles, the politeness of our manners, the affability of our 
conversation, our perpetual offers of service, and the great 
concourse of persons of all ages, and of all ranks, who 
seem eager from the rising until the setting of the sun, 
reciprocally to oblige each other. This stranger, I say, 
Would form an opinion of our manners, the contrary of 
what they really are. 

Where there is no effect produced in vain, we seek a 
anise, but here the effect is evident — a real depravity 
exists, and our minds are corrupted in proportion as our 
sciences and our arts have advanced towards perfection, 
h ir said that this is a malady peculiar to our age — No, 
the evils occasioned by our vain curiosity, are as old 
as the world. The daily rise and fall of the tides of the 
ocean are not more regularly subjected to the course of the 
planets which illuminate the night, than the state of manners 
and of probity bears relation to the art's and sciences. 
Jf r e behold virtue tal.e to flight in proportion as their light 
diffuses itself round our horizon, and the phenomenon is 
observable in all times and at all places. 

Contemplate Egypt, that first school of the world, that 
climate so fertile under a brazen sky, that celebrated coun- 
try whence Seostris set out to conquer the world. It be- 



came the mother of philosophy and of the fine arts, and 
soon after was conquered by Cand^ses, then by the- 
Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, and finally by the Turks. 

Turn to Greece, formerly, peopled by heroes, who 
twice conquered Asia, once before Troy, and afterwards 
on their oavii hearths. The birlh of letters liacj not yet 
spread corruption into the hearts of the inhabitants, but 
the progress of the arts, the dissoluteness of the public 
manners, and the Macedonian yoke followed each oilier 
closely. And Greece, ever learned, ever voluptuous, and 
ever enslaved, amidst its several revolutions, experienced 
nothing but a change of masters. All the eloquence of 
Demosthenes could never re-animate a body which luxury 
and the arts had never enervated. j 

It was in the times of the Ennuis' and the Terence's, 
that Rome, which was founded by a goatherd,, and illus- 
trious by its labours, began to degenerate. It Was after the 
Ovid's, the Calullus's, the Martials, and that crowd of ob- 
scene authors, whose very names put modest}*" to the blush, 
that Rome, once the temple of the virtues, became the 
theatre of crimes, the shame of nations, and the sport 
of barbarians. This capital of the world soon fell under 
a yoke which they had imposed on so many other nations, 
and the day of her fall was the eve of that, which gave to 
one of its citizens the title of arbiter of line taste. 

What shall I say of that metropolis of the empire of 
the East, which by its natural position seems destined to 
be the capital of the world, of (hat asylum of sciences, and 
of arts, proscribed by the other countries of Europe, more 
perhaps by wisdom than by barbarity. All which is 
shameful in debauchery and corruption, treasons, assassi- 
' B 



10 

nations, poisons of tlie blackest dye, an assemblage of aU 
crimes the most atrocious, forms the thread of the history 
of Constantinople. Behold there, the pure source front 
"whence emanated those lights of which our age hoasts. 

But wherefore seek in times that are past, proofs of a 
truth of which we have sufficient evidences under our 
own .ejes. In Asia, that immense country, literature is 
so esteemed, that it conducts to the first honours of the 
state; if the sciences tend to purify the manners, if they 
teach men to shed their blood; for their country, if they in- 
spire courag r ' : the inhabitants of China ought to be wise, 
free and invincible. But if it should appear that there is 
not a vice which does not prevail there, not a species of 
crime but is there familiarized. If the instructions of mi- 
nisters of religion, nor the pretended wisdom of their laws, 
nor the extensive population of this vast empire, is unable 
to protect them from the yoke of the ignorant, but hardy 
Tartar race — of what advantage is all their learning— - 
what benefit have they derived from the honours with 
which they are loaded — except that of being an enslaved 
.r.ud a vicious people. 

Lei us oppose to this picture the manners of a less cele- 
brated people, who preserved from the contagion of vain 
science, have by their virtues, created their own happiness, 
and are an example to all other nations. Such were the 
first Persians — a singular nation, who taught the virtues in 
the same manner as we teach the sciences, and who solely 
can boast, that the history of their institutions have been 
considered rather as a philosophical romance. 

Such were the Scythians, of whom there is left us such 
splendid panegyrics. Such the Germans, of whom an author 



11 



weary of tracing the crimes and the -vices of an instructed 
people -opulent and voluptuous — is satisfied to describe 
their simplicity, their innocence and their virtues. Such 
was Rome itself, in the times of her poverty and her ig- 
norance. Such, in short, is seen in our days, that rude 
nation so celebrated for its courage, which adversity can- 
not subdue, and for its fidelity, which even example cannot 
corrupt. 

It is not from stupidity that they prefer other employ- 
ments to those of the mind. They are not ignorant that 
in other countries idle inhabitants pass away their lives in 
disputes about the sovereign good, upon vice and virtue; 
and proud reason ers they give to themselves great eulo-^ 
giums, and confound others indiscriminately under that of 
barbarians. But they have considered our manners, and 
Jiave learnt to despise our doctrines. 

Can I forget that it was in the heart of that same 
Greece where we saw arise that city, celebrated as much, 
for its happy ignorance, as for the wisdom of its laws;; 
that republic of demi-gods, rather than of men \ their vir- 
tues seemed to elevate them so niuch above humanity. 
Oh Sparta ! the eternal opprobrium of a false doctrine, 
whilst vice introduced by the fine arts, advanced Land in 
haod into Athens, whilst a tyrant encouraged there with, 
so much care the works of the prince of poets, yon> effaced 
from your walls the arts and the artists, the sciences and 
tiie learned. 

The event corresponded with this difference^ Athens 
became the seat of politeness and of good taste,, the coun— 
try of orators and of philosophers* The elegance of its 
architecture corresponded with that of its language^ om 



12 

-every side were the embroidered linens, and the marble*' 
made animate by the hands of the most able masters. It 
was from Alliens that sprung those surpassing works which 
have served as models in the future corrupt ages. The 
records of Lnccdemon are less brilliant indeed ; there said 
the other Grecians — men are born virtuous, and the air 
of the country seems to inspire virtue. There has come 
down to us, from that people, the memoirs of their heroic 
action*. Lut have these memorials done less for us than 
the curious marbles which Athens has left behind her. 

Some sages, it is allowed, have resisted the general tor- 
rent, and have withheld themselves from vice in the 
abode of the muses. But let them listen to the opinion 
which the first and most unfortunate among them enter- 
tained of the learned, and of the artists of his times. 



u 1 have examined," says he, u the poets, and I re- 
" gard them as those, whose talent imposes upon themselves 
Ci and upon oihers, wmo give themselves out as sages, who 
<< are taken for such, but who are any thing rather than sages. 

." From the poets," says Socrates, " J pass on to the 
Ci artists. — No one was more ignorant of the arts than my- 
(i self — l\o one was more convinced that they were in 
" possession of very valuable secrets. I have, however, 
" found that their condition is not better than that of the 
" poets, and that both the one and the other arc equally 
" prejudiced. Because the most skilful among them excel 
u in their profession, they regard themselves as the wisest 
" of men. This presumption has tarnished all their at— 
" tainments in my eyes ; so that putting myself in the 
'< situation of the oracle, and asking myself which was the 
u most desirable -state of being. That which I possess, or 



i5 

• c their slate, to know what they have iearnt, or to know 
u that I know nothing. I answer to myself and to thtf» 
u Gods, I am desirous to remain as I am. 

" We know nothing, neither the sophists, nor the poets, 
u nor the orators, nor the artists", nor myself, wherein 
<c consists truth, goodness or beauty. But there is amongst 
< c us this difference, that although these learned men know 
f tf nothing, all think they know something. Whereas, for 
<< myself, 1 know nothing, of this I am certain; so that all 
i 6 this superior wisdom which is afforded me by the oracle. 
u reduces itself,] merely to convince me that I know no- 
" thing." -~ 

Thus Socrates, the wisest of men, in the judgment of 
the Gods, and the most learned of the Athenians in the 
opinion, of all Greece, is the eulogist of ignorance. Can 
we believe that if he was to come again and dwell among 
us, that our learned men and artists would induce him to 
change his opinion. — No, Sirs, this upright man would 
continue to despise our boasted knowledge. He would 
not help to increase the multitude of books, which inun- 
date us on every side, and would only leave to his disci- 
ples and to posterity, as he has done, his example, and the 
memory of his virtues. This mode of instructing mankind 
is truly beautiful. 

Socrates commenced in Athens, the elder Gato remained 
at Rome, inveighing against the artful and subtil Greeks, 
who ensnared virtue, and subdued the courage of its citi- 
zens. But the sciences, the arts and logic, still prevailed, 
Rome supplied herself with philosophers and orators, 
she neglected military discipline, contemned agriculture, 
became the partizans of sects, and patriotism was forgotten. 



1* 

To a sacred reverence for liberty, disinterestedness and 
obedience to the laws, succeeded the names of Epicurus, 
Zcnoand Areesilaus. Since, said their own philosophers, 
that learned men began to appear among us — good men 
are thrown into shade. Until then the Romans were 
contented to practise virtue, all was lost when she began 
to study* 

Oh Fabricius ! what would have been the sentiment of 
your noble soul, if yon had been so unhappy as to have 
been called to life, and beheld the pompous face of that 
Rome which your respectable name had honoured more 
than all her conquests. " Ye Gods/' ye would have said, 
u what is become of those straw-built sheds, and those 
rustic hearths, where moderation and the virtues ever 
dwelt. What fatal splendour is this which has banished 
Roman simplicity. What foreign language is this ? 
Whence these effeminate manners ? What mean these 
statues,, these pictures, these edifices ? Thoughtless people, 
what have you done? You, the conquerors of nations, 
you are become slaves of the frivolous men whom you 
have conquered. They are the masters of eloquence who 
govern you. Was it to enrich architects, painters, statua- 
ries and historians, that you watered Greece and Asia with 
your best blood ? The spoils of Carthage are become the 
prey of a music master. Romans, hasten to overturn these 
amphitheatres, destroy those marbles, burn those pictures* 
drive away the slaves that have subdued you, and whose 
fatal arts have corrupted you. Let others employ them- 
selves in these empty arts, the only talent worthy of Rome 
is to conquer the world and to bid virtue triumph. 

When Cyneas took our senate for an assembly of kings,, 
he was not dazzled by its vain pomp* nor by its doubtful 



i5 

slegance, he was a stranger to such frivolous eloquence, 
the business and the amusements of weak minds. What 
then did Gyueas see so majestic? Oh citizens ! he saw a 
spectacle which your riches or your arts will never exhibit 
— the finest spectacle which is seen under the canopy of 
heaven, an assembly of two hundred virtuous men, worthy 
of command at Pvome, and fit to govern the world. 

But passing over the distance of time 'and place, and 
considering what is passing in our own countries, and 
under our eyes, or rather banishing the odious painters 
who wound our delicacy, and sparing ourselves the trouble 
to repeat the same things under other names. It is not 
in vain that I invoke the manes of Fabricius, and that I 
have made this great man to say what I have not put into 
the mouths of Louis XII. or of Henry IV. Amongst us, 
it is true Socrates had not drank of the hemlock, but he 
would have partaken of a cup still more bitter, insulting 
raillery and contempt, an hundred times worse than death, 
itself. 

Examine how luxury, dissipation and slavery, have at 
all times chastised the proud attempts which we have 
made to depart from that happy state of ignorance where 
eternal wisdom has placed us. The thick veil which con- 
ceals all his operations, seems to admonish us sufficiently 
that he has not designed us for vain reseaches. But is it 
one of these lessons of which we have failed to profit, or 
. which we have neglected with impunity? Learn then 
mortals for once, that nature is desirous to preserve you 
from science, as a mother wards off the stroke of danger 
from her beloved infant. That all the secrets which she 
withholds arc as many evils from which she defends, and 
that the difficulties we meet with in prying kto thew, 



i6 

are not the least of lier blessings. Men are perverse, they 
would be still more so if they had the misfortune to he 
horn h arned. 

How humiliating these reflections to humanity —how 
mortifying to pride — What? can integrity he the daughter 
of ignorance. Are science and virtue incompatible with 
each other? What consequence do we not dread from 
these prejudices? But to reconcile these apparent contra- 
dictions, it is only necessary to examine more closely the 
vanity and the nothingness of these proud titles, which we 
forget, and which we give so gratuitously to human wisdom. 
Let us consider the avts and the sciences themselves. Let 
us examine what results from their progress, and no longer 
hesitate to grant whatever truths shall be found to agree 
with historical deductions. 



PART II. 



It was an ancient tradition, which passed from Egypt 
into Greece, that some God inimical to the peace of man- 
kind had invented the sciences. What opinion had the 
Egyptians themselves of them, amongst whom they were 
invented. 

In short whether it is on the records of the annals of 
the world, or whether supplied by the uncertain chronicles 
of philosophical research, we find not in human science an 
origin which corresponds with the idea which we wish to 
form of it. Astronomy is the child of superstition, elo- 
quence 'of ambition, of hatred, of flattery, of lies. Geo- 
metry of avarice, physics of vain curiosity 5 all, even ma- 



J 7 

rality itself^ of human pride. The arts and the sciences 
owe their birth to our vices, we should he less in doubt 
respecting their advantages, if they contributed to our 

virtues. 

The defect in their origin is but too strongly marked in 
their objects. What shall we do with the arts, without 
the luxury which nourishes them. If men were not un^ 
just, what necessity of jurisprudence — what would becorao 
of history if we had no tyrants, no wars, no conspirators. 
"Who, in a word, would pass his life in barren contempla- 
tions, if every one consulted only the duties of men, and 
the wants of nature, and had no time but for his country, 
for the nnhappy, and for his friends. Are we then ap- 
pointed to die, fastened upon the borders of those pits 
'where truth has concealed herself. This reflection alone 
should check in the first step all men who seriously seek to 
instruct themselves by Jthe study of philosophy. 

How many dangers, how many false steps in the inves- 
tigation of the sciences? By how many errors a thousand 
times more hurtful than the results have been beneficial p 
is it not necessary to arrive at it ? The disadvantages arts 
apparent, for falsehood is susceptible of an infinity of 
combinations, but truth has but one simple manner of being 
How few are there who seek after it most sincerely, even 
if they attempt it with the most earnest desire. What 
mark has it by which it can be recognized ? Amidst such 
a diversity of opinion, what shall be our criterion to judge 
of it. And what is the most discouraging, if by good for- 
tune we at length find it, who amongst ns makes a good 
use of it? 

If our science* are useless in the object whish they pro-* 
C 



pose, tliey are yet more dangerous in the effects which they 
produce. Having their birth in indolence, ihey nourish it 
in return, and an irreparable loss of lime is the firs', injury 
which they necessarily occasion to society, In politics, as 
in morals, that is a great evil which is not productive of 
good, and every useless citizen should be regarded as a 
cumbrous man. Say then, illustrious philosophers, you 
by whom we learn in what manner the body occupies 
space; in the revolution of planets, what proportions 
of their circles, are passed over in equal times? What 
Curves have their points converging? their points of in- 
flexion ? and of repulsion? How are the soul and body 
united without communication — like two clocks? What 
stars are inhabited ? what insects reproduce themselves, in 
a most extraordinary manner ? Solve me these questions, 
ye, of whom we have learnt so many sublime sciences, if 
vou had never taught us these things, should we have 
been less numerous, worse governed, less formidable, less 
flourishing or more perverse ? 

Review then the value of your studies, and if the la- 
bours of the most enlightened of our best citizens, are of 
so little benefit, what shall we think of that crowd of un- 
known writers, and of idle authors, who devour in indo- 
lence the substance of the state. 

What say I, indolent? would to God that they were 
so effectually \ the manners would be more pure, and so- 
ciety more peaceable. But these vain and weak de- 
elaimers go forth on every side, cloathed with their fatal 
paradoxes, sapping the foundations of faith, and humbling 
virtue. TLey smile scornfully at ancient names of pa- 
triotism and religion, and consecrate their talents and their 
philosophy, to revile and, destroy all that is sacred among 
mankind* Not that they hate, really, either virtue or our 



doctrines,' it is the public opinion with which \hzy are at 
enmity ; and to bring them back to the fWt of the altar, it 
becomes necessary to proscribe them as atheists. Oh rage 
for distinction ! what will you not do ? 

' There is a greater evil than even the waste of time. 
Other evils, yet worse, follow literature and the arts. 
Such is luxury, engendered by them of indolence and hu- 
man vanity. Luxury is rarely seen without the sciences, 
and the arts and they are never seen without it. 1 know 
that our philosophy, ever fruitful in singular maxims, pre- 
tends contrary to the experience of all ages, that luxury 
constitutes the splendour of states. But after having for- 
gotten the necessity of sumptuary laws, dare they still to 
deny that morality is not essential to the welfare of em- 
pires, and that luxury is not diametrically opposed there- 
to. Admit that luxury is a certain sign of wealth, that it 
serves at the same time to increase it. What shall we con- 
clude from this paradox so worthy of our time, and what 
will become of virtue when it is necessary to enrich itself, 
at whatever price it may be. Ancient politicians speak 
without ceasing of manners and of virtue, ours speak only 
of trade and of money. 

•One telLs you that a man is worth in such countries th« 
sum that be will sell for in Algiers — another following 
this calculation^ finds countries where a man is worth no- 
thing,, and others where he is worth less than nothing. 
They value men as they value herds of cattle. According 
to them a man is worth no more to a state than the amount 
of what he consumes. Thus a Sybarite will be worth 
thirty Lacedemonians. Guess then, which of these two 
republics, — Sparta or Siberia was subjugated by a handful 
©f peasants, and which made Asia tremble. 



'*0 



The monarchy of Cyrus was subdued by thirty thou- 
sand men, by a prince inferior in riches to the least of 
the Satraps of Persia, and the Scythians, of all people the 
most miserable, resisted the most powerful monarchy of 
the universe. 

Two celebrated republics contend for the empire of the 
world, the one was very opulent, the other had nothing; 
nevertheless, it succeeded in destroying the former. The 
Roman empire in its turn, after having engrossed all the 
riches of the world, fell a prey to those who were them- 
selves ignorant. 

The Franks conquered the Greeks, the Saxons, the 
English, without any other treasure than their bravery and 
their poverty. A troop of mountaineers, the whole of 
whose possessions was limited to a few sheep-skins, 
after having conquered the fierce Austrian, crushed the 
opulent and brave house of Burgundy, which made the 
other powers of Europe to tremble. Jn short all the 
power and all the sagacity of the heir of Charles the 5th, 
sustained by all the treasures of the Indies, was over- 
powered by a band of herring fishers. Let our politicians 
deign to correct their calculations, by reflecting upon 
these examples, and let them learn for once that, they may 
have every thing for money except manners and citizens. 

"What then do we discuss in this question of luxury — 
to ascertain whether it is more important for empires to 
become splendid and transient, or virtuous and durable. 
I say, splendid, but where is the splendour. The taste 
for ostentation never associates itself with that of honesty. 
No, it is not possible that minds degraded by a multitude 
of trilling cares, should elevate themselves to the truly 



greafj and what they Lave in strength they want in 
courage. 






All artists covet applajise, the praises of their contem- 
poraries are the most precious parts of their reward. 
What will they not do then to obtain it, if they have the 
misfortune to be born amongst a people, and in times 
where knowledge having become a fashion, has placed 
a frivolous youth in a situation to regulate the fashions ; 
where men have sacrificed their taste to those who tyranize 
over them, where one of the sexes dare not approve of any 
thing but what is proportioned to the weakness of the 
other ; the chef d'ouvres of the poetic art are despised, 
and prodigies of the harmonic art are rudely rejected. 
What must they do, Sirs? They repress their genius to 
the level of their age, and prefer to compose works of in- 
ferior merit, that may be admired daring their lives, rather 
than such lofty efforts as may be admired after their death. 
Say now, celebrated Arouet, how much you have sacrificed 
substantial beauty, to our false delicacy, and how much, 
the spirit of galantry, so fertile in small concerns, has cost 
you in valuable ones. 

Thus the dissoluteness of manners, the necessary con- 
sequence of luxury, draws in its train the corruption of 
taste. If by chance, among men eminent by their talents, 
there is found one possessed of fortitude of soul, who re- 
fuses to conform to the customs of the age, and to disgrace 
himself by puerile productions, unhappy he, he dies in in- 
digence and unknown. Would that this was a prognostic 
of mine, and not experience which I make known — 
Carlo-Pierre — the moment is arrived when the pencil 
destined to contribute to the majesty of our temples, By 
sublime and holy image*,, shall fall from cur hands, or 



122 



shall be prostituted to ornament with lascivious paintings 
the pannels of buildings of an opposite nature. Arni 
thou ! inimitable Pigal ! rival of Praxiteles, and of 
Phidias, whose chissel the ancients would have employ- 
ed to make their Gods, which would make even ido- 
latry excusable; thy hand must determine to debase itself 
to the wishes of a coxcomb, or it must remain idle and un- 
employed. 

We cannot reflect upon the manners of former times, 
without recalling to recollection the pleasing images of their 
simplicity. It is a beautiful bank of a river, adorned solely 
by the hand of nature, towards which we turn our eyes 
incessantly, and from which we feel our distance with re- 
gret* When men, innocent and virtuous, loved to have 
the Gods to witness their actions, they dwelt together in 
the same cottages; but soon becoming corrupted, they 
quitted these troublesome spectators, and banished them to 
magnificent temples. They drove them thence, to esta- 
blish themselves in their stead, or at least the altars of 
the gods no longer distinguished the houses of the citi- 
zens. It was then the height of depravity, and the vices 
were never carried to greater extremity, than when they 
saw themselves, so to say, supported at the entrance of 
the palaces of the great, and graven upon Corinthian ca- 
pitals. 

As the conveniences of life multiplied, the arts obtained 
perfection and luxury was extended. True courage be- 
came enfeebled, the military virtues vanished, and the 
powerful effects of all the arts still display themselves in 
the secrets of the cabinet. When the Goths ravished 
Greece, all the libraries would have been burnt had it 
not been suggested by one among them, that it was ne~ 



23 

cessaiy to leave to .the'r enemies what was so adapted to 
turn them from military exercises, and to amuse them with 
idle aud sedentary occupations. Charles. VIII. became 
master of Tuscany, and of the kingdom of Naples, without 
drawing his sword and all around him, attributed this un- 
hoped for facility to the princes and nobility of ffaly} 
amusing themselves more to become ingenious and learned 
than to qualify themselves to become vigorous and war- 
like. Thus all history teaches that in this martial policy, 
and in all like states, the study of the sciences is more 
proper to soften and subdue courage, than to confirm and 
animate it. 

The Romans acknowledged that the military virtues be- 
came extinct amongst them in proportion as they became 
acquainted with pictures, engravings, vases of Porphyry and 
the cultivation of the fine arts ; and as though this celebrated 
country was destined to serve as a perpetual memorial to 
all other nations, the elevation of the Medici, and the re- 
establishment of letters sunk perhaps for ever that warlike 
reputation which Italy appeared to have recovered for 
some ages. 

The ancient republics of Greece with that wisdom 
which appeared in most of their institutions forbid their 
citizens all sedentary and tranquil occupations ; which, at 
the same time as they weaken and corrupt the body, ener- 
vate the vigour of the soul. With what eye could the^ 
look upon hunger, thirst, fatigues, dangers and death? 
Men, to whom the least want would be troublesome, and 
the least difficulty would deter. With what courage could 
soldiers support excessive hardships to which they had not 
been accustomed. With what ardour could they make 
forced marches, under officers who had not the strength. 



eveto to travel on horseback. There will be urged against 
ilie renowned valour of all those modern warriors, 
.who are scientifically disciplined. They will boast their 
bravery in the day of battle, but they say not how they 
support the excess of fatigue, or how they resist the ri- 
gour of the seasons, and the intemperance of the air. A 
little more sun or a little more snow, the privation of a 
few accustomed indulgences would melt down and destroy 
in a few days the best of our armies. Intrepid warriors 
listen for once to the truth which you so rarely hear. — 
You are brave, I acknowledge it — you would have 
triumphed with Hannibal, at Cannae, and at Trasimenes. 
Csesar with you would have passed the Paibicon and sub- 
jected his country, but it would not have been with you 
that the first would have crossed the Alps, or that the 
other would have vanquished your ancestors. 

Battles do not always constitute the success of war, and 
there is for generals an art superior to that of gaining vic- 
tories. Some rush into action with intrepidity, who are 
nevertheless bad officers. In the same soldier a little more 
strength and vigour may be perhaps more necessary, than 
so much bravery, which does not guarantee against death, 
and what signifies it to the state whether their troop* 
perish by fever, by cold, or by the fire of the enemy. 

If the culture of the sciences is prejudicial to the quali- 
fication of warriors, it is still more so to morality. It is in 
our earliest years that education insensibly adorns our minds 
and corrupts our judgment. I see on all sides immense 
establishments where thej bring up youth at great cost, 
and teach them all things except their duties. Your chil- 
dren are ignorant of their mother tongue, but they speak 
others which are not in us© any where ; they can com- 



pose verses, which with difficulty they comprehend, with- 
out being able to distinguish error from truth. They pos-* 
sess the art of rendering themselves unintelligible to others 
by specious arguments. But magnanimity, equity, tempe- 
rance, humanity, courage, they know not what they mean. 
The blandishments of patriotism now meet their ears, and if 
they hear God spoken of, it is rather to fear him, than to 
have him in reverence. I should prefer, said a sage, that 
my scholar should pass his time in a game of tennis — his 
body would at least be well formed. I know that it is ne- 
cessary to employ children, and that idleness is for ihem 
of all things most dangerous. What then ought they to 
learn? This is the grand question. Let ihem learn that 
which they ought to do when men, and not that which they 
ought to forget. 

Our gardens are ornamented with statues, and our ga- 
laries with pictures. What subjects think you do these 
chef d ; oeuvres of art exhibit to public admiration. The 
defenders of their country or the men still more great, 
who have enriched it with their virtues. No, they are 
the images of all the wanderings of the heart, and of the 
mind, carefully drawn from the ancient mythology, and 
presented at an early age to the curiosity of our children, 
doubtless that they may have before their eyes at an early 
age the examples of evil actions, before they know even 
how to read. 

Whence arises all these abuses, if not from the fatal 
inequality introduced amongst men bv the distinction of 
talents, and by the disparaging of the virtues. Behold 
here the most striking effect of all our studies, and the 
most dangerous of all their consequences. It is no longer 
enquired of man if he has probity, but if he has talents \ nor 

D . 



2*6 

of a book if it is useful, hut if it is well written. The re- 
wards to genius are prodigious, hut virlue passes hy with- 
out honours,— there is a high value put upon a fine dis- 
course, none upon fine actions. Let them tell me, how- 
ever, if the glory attached to the best of the discourses,, 
which shall be crowned in this academy, is comparable to 
the merit of having founded the prize. 

The wise run not after fortune, but they are not insen- 
sible to glory, and when they observe it so improperly dis- 
tributed 5 virtue, which a little emulation would have 
animated and rendered advantageous to society, falls into 
languor and is extinguished in misery and forge tfuln ess. 
This is the consequence produced by the preference of 
agreeable talents over the useful, and which experience 
has confirmed ever since the renewal of the arts and 
sciences. We have physicians,, geometricians, chemists, 
astronomers, poets, musicians, painters ; we have no longer 
patriots, or if any are yet to be found, they are dispersed 
in rural scenes, where they may perish in indigence and 
contempt. Such is the state to which those are reduced 
who give food to our children, and such the sentiment* 
which are held respecting them. 

I acknowledge, however, that the evil is not so great 
as would be imagined. Eternal wisdom has placed near 
the poisonous plants simple sanatives, and in the constitu- 
tion of many venemous animals, a remedy for their wounds, 
to teach sovereigns who are his ministers, to imitate his 
wisdom j it is to his example that in the bosom of the arts 
and sciences, sources of a thousand disorders, the grand mo-^ 
narch whose glory cannot but acquire from age to age, de- 
rived an increased splendour from these celebrated societies, 
calculated, at one and the same time, to be the dan~ 



a? 

gerous depots of human &oic«Ges t and the sacred depots of 
manners, by the attention which is "necessary to maintain 
them in their purity, and which is. required of the mem-, 
bers whom they receive. 

These wise institutions, rendered stable by his august' 
successor, and imitated by all the kings of Europe, will 
serve at least to restrain men of letters, all of whom aspire to 
the honour of being admitted into the academies, to become 
watchful over themselves, to endeavour to render them- 
selves useful, and their manners irreproachable. Those 
of these societies, who by the prizes with which they ho- 
nour literary merit, will make choice of subjects proper to 
revive the love of virtue in the hearts of the citizens, will 
prove that this love reigns among them, and will give to 
the people a pleasure rare and welcome, to see learned so- 
cieties devote themselves to shed among mankind not only, 
agreable Ughts, but also salutary instructions. 

Wherefore, then, is an objection started, which is to 
me but a new proof. So much care only shows the ne- 
cessity thereof, remedies are not necessary where evils do 
not exist. Wherefore do they, by their insufficiency, 
bear the character of ordinary remedies. So many esta- 
blishments made for the advantage of the learned, only 
serve more effectually to impose upon the objects of the 
sciences, and to turn minds to the cultivation of them. It 
appears by the precautions which are taken, that we have 
too many labourers, and that we are in danger of want- 
ing philosophers. I will not here compare agriculture and 
philosophy, they will not bear the comparison. Twill 
only ask, what is philosophy, what do the writings of the 
most celebrated philosophers contain? What, are the les- 
sons of these friends of wisdom ? To listen to them we 
should take them for a troop of Charlatans, crying each 



2t 

one on his own side of some public place, Come to m> 
It is I only who do not deceive — one pretends that there 
is no matter, and that every thing is ideal. Another pre- 
tends that there is no other substance than mailer, nor any 
Other God than the world. Here one advances that the/e 
are neither virtues or vices, and that all moral good or evil 
is a chimera. There another says, that men are wolves, 
and may devour each other with a safe conscience. Why 
do ye not reserve for your friends and your children these 
profitable lessons > you will then soon experience the ef- 
fects of them, and we should not then fear to find among 
ours any of your opinions. 

Behold these surprising men, whose contemporaries 
loaded them with esteem during their lives, and reserved an 
immortality for them afterwards. Observe the wise maxims 
which we have received from them, and which we transmit 
from age to age to our descendants. Paganism freed from 
all the wanderings of human reason, has it left to posterity 
any thing which can be compared to the shameful monu- 
ments which the art of printing has prepared under the 
reign of the Scriptures ? The impious writings of Leucippus 
and Diagoras have perished with them? The art of per- 
petuating the extravagancies of the human mind, had not 
then been invented. But thanks to the typographical art 
and the use which we make of it, the dangerous reveries 
of Hobbes and Spinoza, remain for ever. Go celebrated 
writings, which the ignorance and the rusticity of our 
Fathers could not have produced, accompany with our 
descendants the works yet more prejudicial, from whence 
shall arise the corruption of manners of your limes, and 
transmit together to the ages to come, a faithful history of 
the advantages of our sciences, and of our ails. If the} 
read you., you will leave them in no perplexity about the 



-9 

question which we are now agitating, and unless the)? shall 
be more foolish than ourselves, they will lift their hands 
to heaven, and say in the bitterness of their heart — iC Oui 
ni potent God, thou who holdest in thine hand the s-v 
deliver us from the lights and from the fatal am 
fathers, and render us hack ignorance, innocence and pa 
verty, those only blessings which can constitute oar 
piness, and which are precious in thy sight." 

But if the progress of the sciences and of the arts, Live 
added nothing to our real felicity ; if they have com 
our manners, and if this corruption of manners has ail 
the purity of taste, what shall we think of that crowd of 
elementary authors, who have driven from the temple of 
the muses the difficulties which surrounded its entrance, 
and which nature had placed there as a proof of the 
strength of those who would be tempted to knowledge. 
What shall we think of our compilers, who have indis- 
creetly broken open the door of the sciences, and intro- 
duced into their sanctuaries a populace unworthy to ap- 
proach them ; at the same time that those would wish v\ ha 
could not a advance far in the career of letters, that they had 
been opposed at their entrance, and thrown into the arts use- 
ful to society. He who all his life-time would be a bad ver- 
sifier, an humble geometrician, might perhaps have be 
excellent manufacturer of stuffs; masters are not neees.ary 
to those whom nature appoints her disciples. The Vera-* 
hm$j the Descartes, and the Newtons, those preceptors of 
mankind, had but only themselves and what Guides could 
have conducted them to the eminences to which their own 
powerful genius led them. Ordinary masters have only 
power to retrace their discoveries, and treasure them up in 
the narrow capacities of their own. It is the first difficulty 
they met with, which has taught them the necessity of 



% 

those great efforts that enabled them to accomplish so nine 1 * 
if some men have been compelled to surrender themselves 
to the study of the sciences and the arts; it is those "who 
have felt the force, of markiug out their own footsteps, and 
of advancing therein. It appertains but to a few to erect 
splendid monuments of human genius. If nothing appear- 
ed beyond their powers, it was because nothing appeared 
beyond their hopes, the only encouragement which 
they required. The mind insensibly proportions itself 
to the objects ; which occupy it, and it is great, occasions 
which make great men. The prince of eloquence was 
consul of Rome, and perhaps the greatest of philosophers, 
chancellor of England. Think you, that if one had 
merely occupied a professorship in some university, and 
the other obtained simply a pension in some academy, 
that their works would not have been influenced bv their 
situation. 

Would that kings did not disdain to admit into their 
councils persons most capable to advise them $ that they 
renounced the ancient pride and prejudice of grandeur, 
that the art of governing mankind is more difficult than 
that of, enlightening them, as if it was easier to engage men 
to do good willingly, than to constrain them so to do. Would 
that the learned of the first order could find honourable asy- 
lums, that they could obtain the only recompence worthy of 
them, that of contributing by their influence to the wel- 
fare of mankind. But so long as power is to be found on 
one side, and wisdom on the other, the learned will rarely 
produce great works, princes rarely perform noble actions, 
and the people will continue vile, corrupted and un- 
happy. 

For us, who are of common mould, to whom heaven has 



$1 

not Imparted eminent talents, and whom he Las not des- 
tined to enjoy distinguished honours, let us remain con- 
tented in our obscurity,* nor pursue a reputation which 
flies us, and which in the present state of tilings will not 
render us hack what it has cost us, when we shall he en- 
titled to obtain it. To what end shall we seek our happi-\ 
ness in the opinion of others, if we cannot find it in our- ' 
selves ? Let us leave to others the care of instructing mau^ 
kind in their duty, and confine ourselves to fulfil our own 
we want no other knowledge. 

O Virtue ! sublime science of the pure soul, are so much 
pains and preparation necessary to become acquainted with 
you? Are not the principles engraven on every heart? 
and is it not sufficient to acquire thy laws to enter 
within our own bosoms, and listen to the voice of con- 
science in the silence of the passions. This is true philo- 
sophy, let us seek to he contented with it, and without, 
envying the glory of those celebrated men who have im- 
mortalized themselves in the republic of letters, endeavour 
to place between them and us this glorious distinction, 
that the one shall know how to write well, and the other 
to act well. 



THE END. 



NOTES TO THE PRIZE ESSAY, 



Page 5. .. Line ig.^ 

Princes observe With pleasure a taste for the fine arts spreading 
among their subjects, which does not with draw permanent wealth 
from their dominions; for besides nourishing thereby a meanness 
of soul favourable to servitude, they know well, that all such self- 
qreated wants, are so many chains with which they are loaded. 
Alexander, desirous to keep the Ichtyophages in subjection, com- 
pelled them to renounce fishing and to support themselves wilh tho-. 
same food as others; and the American savages, who go naked,, 
and who live upon the produce of the chace, have never been sub- . 
d»ed.. Eqt. wjiat.yoke can be imposed on men who want nothing,. 

Page 7. Lin&.the last. 

iC I am pleased/' says Montaigne, u to contest and to dispute, but 
it is with few men and for my own benefit. But to serve as a spec- 
tacle to the great, and to make a parade of wit and learning, is con- 
temptible to a man of honor. It is the plan of all our fine wits 
except one. _ 

Page 1 1. Line 8, 

I da\;e not Xo* -speak of those happy nations, who know not by 
name even many of those vices which we take so much trouble to 
repress, of those American savages, whose simple and natural polity 
Montaigne does not hesitate to prefer to all that philosophy can find 
necessary for the government of mankind. He cites many striking 
examples among them which we cannot fail, to admire. "But, says- 
he, they go naked. 

Page 11. Line 16; 

In good faith. telLme what opinion the Athenians themselves had 
of eloquence, when they discarded with so much care from their 
upright tribunals, I be judgments which the Gods themselves did not 
call for? What did the Romans think of medicine when they ba- 
nished it from their republic : and when in arrears to humanity the 
Spaniards forbid their lawyers to enter their American territories, 
what idea had they of their jurisprudence. Did they not think by 
this single act to repair all ike evils which thev had occasioned. 

G 



•i2 Notes lo the Prize l'.\s\ 



'PART THE SECOND. 



Page 1 6. Line ig. 

Tiiis evidently" alludes lo the fable of Prometheus ; il does not a.. 
pear that the Greeks "Who had nailed him to Caucausus though i 
much more favourably of him than the Egyptians of their God 
Teuthus. A satyr, said an ancient fable, wished to hug and lo kiss 
lire when he v first saw if. 'But Prtimethetis, cried out lo him, yoii 
■will drop tears on the beard upon your chin':, for it will burn if you 
touch il. 

Page ij. Line 25. 

The less wetnow, the more we think we do know. The Peripa- 
tetics, doubled they any thing? Did not Descartes construct the Uni- 
verse with his cubes and vortexes? It is the same at this day in 
Europe; a presumptuous physician boldly explains the profound 
mysteries of electricity j which perhaps true 'philosophy will ever 
despair to attain. 

Page 2i. Lineg: 

I am far from thinking that this female ascend aricy is an cyi! in 
itself. It is a gift given them by nature for the benefit of the 
human race; belter directed it might produce as much good as it 
now does evil. It is incalculable what advantages would arise to 
society if a better education was given to this half of human kind) 
which governs the other half. Men will always endeavour to be 
agreable to Women, if you desire then that they may become great 
and virtuous', teach women thai there is a grandeur of soul, ami that 
there is virtue. The selections furnished by this subject merit 
to he better developed by a writer Worthy to write on such a sub- 
ject, and to defend so noble a cause. 



Such vVas the education of the Spartans, by the reports of their 
greatest kings. u It is," says Montaigne, u a thing worthy of mature 
consideration, that in the excellent polity of Lycurgus, the import- 
iaoce of which a\ as evident by its perfection, the nourishment of 
children was made the principal cared' and as lo the Muses he 
scarcely deigns to mention them, as if his noble youth, disdained 
all other yoke; he furnishes him, instead of our teachers ofsciencc, 
with lessons of valour, prudence and justice. 

Let us ;;ee then how this same author speaks of the ancient Per- 
sians: Plato says lie relates, that the eldest sons of their royal fami- 
lies were thus nourished: at their birth they were given not to 
women, but to eunuchs, who held the first authority near the king 
by their virtue. These took charge to render their bodies sU'ODg 



-No'r* to the Prize Essay. 45 

and healthy, and at seven years fought them rid'ng and hunting. 
When arrived at fourteen, Ihcy were placed under the care of 1'oui 
of the wisest, most iust, most temperate, and most valiant of the 
nation. The first I aught them religion, the second truth, the third 
to subdue their desires, and the fourth to fear nothing. All, adds 
lie, rendered them good, none made them learned. 

Astyages, in Xenophon, asked of Cyrus an account of Ms la'sj 
lesson: it is, said he, that in our school, a great buy having a small 
coat, gave it to one of his companions of smaller size, and took his 
coat, which was larger.. Our preceptors may think differently of 
this, I judge that both one and the other were better accommodated. 
They will remonstrate that I had done wrong, thai: I should have 
slopped to examine the propriety, and that it was right first to 
sider of forcing away any thing from him to whom it belonged, and 
say that he ought to have been punished for it, as Ave punish those. 
who in our villages have forgotten Ihe first rules of grammar. My 
•schoolmaster would make me a long harangue, before he could per- 
soache mo that his school was equal to that. 

Page 28. Line 3Q'» 

To consider the dreadful disorders which printing has already 
caused in Europe, and to judge of the future by the daily progress 
of the evil, we shall easily foresee that sovereigns will make as 
great haste to banish this terrible art from their states, as they took 
to establish it there. .. The Sultan Achmet, yielding to the importu- 
nities of some men of pretended taste, had consented to establish a 
printing press at Constantinople. But presently the press was in. 
such a train, that he was compelled to destroy it, and to throw the 
.machinery and implements into the wells. It is told of the Caliph 
Omar, when consulted upon w bat should be done with the Alexan- 
drine library, that he answered in these terms: if the books contain 
any thing contrary to the Alcoran, they are bad and ought to be 
burnt; If they contain only the doctrines of the Alcoran, neverthe- 
less burn them, they are superfluous. Our wise men cite this rea- 
soning as the height of absurdity. However suppose Gregory the 
Great, in the place of Omar, and the Scriptures in the stead of the 
Alcoran, the library would still have been burnt, and this perhaps 
would have constituted one of the fines! traits in the life of this iilns- 
trtous poulifr. 



